Seeking New Hope In the Midst of Hardship

It is a misty overcast day in our mega city of 20 million people. The Spring showers have kickstarted the soon-to-be fully bloomed arrays of pink, white, and green. You may assume these new colors would lift the hearts of our neighbors to new hopes and aspirations, but unfortunately there is a weightiness in the air. Ramadan, a time of devoting oneself to Allah through prayer and fasting has come and gone. Yet for many, this is the least of their concerns. Economic upheaval over the past year and half and the loss of over 50,000 of their brothers and sisters in relentless earthquakes fill the air with despondency and angst. Where does their hope come from? It is about dried up. 

As we walk the streets of this city and engage and interact with our neighbors, we are reminded of the reason that we are here. The Lord has called us to share the hope of the gospel in a nation that very few know Him. Each opportunity that we have at the grocery store, at the park in an elevator in one of the countless skyrises that span the city, we might come in contact with someone who has never heard the name of Jesus. We have the hope of Jesus and many in this nation are looking for hope during all they are walking through.

Though we may suffer in many ways, for us as believers this is a season of turning our gaze towards hope, new life, and resurrection. A time of year when we devote all of our focus to the days in which Jesus’ split history into B.C. and A.D., crushed death and the devil, and sprung into new life. We are here praying that the people of West Asia are given a new narrative, new hopes, loves, and joys. Pray in this season of suffering and apathy the Gospel might shine through all the more as our neighbor’s thirst for a better story.